October 4, 2023

Neighborhood Suffered from Chronic Flooding, Disinvestment for Decades

Infrastructure Improvements Completed in March 2023 Helped Alleviate Flooding as Much as 10 Times Faster Last Week Than After Hurricane Ida

Adams Administration Has Expanded Drainage Capacity, Launched “Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan” to Upgrade Resiliency Infrastructure and Create Affordable Housing

NEW YORK–New York City Mayor Eric Adams today visited the Jewel Streets neighborhood—also known as “The Hole”—in Queens and Brooklyn to evaluate flooding impacts and resiliency infrastructure following extreme rainfall this past Friday. Joined by Chief Climate Officer and New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr, Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) Executive Director Elijah Hutchinson, and the New York City Department of Transportation, Mayor Adams inspected new sewer infrastructure installed by DEP between September 2022 and March 2023 that helped alleviate street flooding from Friday’s storm in a matter of hours instead of weeks, as was the case after a similar volume of rain fell during Hurricane Ida in 2021.

Read the full Mayoral Press Release.